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One thing you can try is the old B&W conversion trick is to adjust the brightness of the different channels underneath the B&W conversion. This can help to bring in more contrast, especially in the sky where the conversion loses a bit of punch.

In Resolve, you'd play with the Hue vs Luminance curve.

I’ve never tried the Hue vs. Luminance tool for B&W but Resolve has that amazing RGB Mixer tool that works magic for B&W.

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I’ve never tried the Hue vs. Luminance tool for B&W but Resolve has that amazing RGB Mixer tool that works magic for B&W.

It's like that only you can adjust every hue separately, so you can raise red and green but lower yellow. I had a play with it and it seems like you can't make something B&W and play with that curve before the B&W conversion with only one node, so I think you can't do it with the free version?

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What I'm looking for is a fast (f/1.4) prime with 50-60mm focal length, which after speedboosting (I've got Panasonic G85) will translate to a nice ~85mm eqv.

I've already tried Auto Revuenon 55/1.4 (the one shown on the pictures) and it was quite bad. My Helios 44-4, which cost me 20$, ate it for breakfast.

Pretty sharp, but contrast was really poor, it also gave a massive yellow tint (old thorium, I guess).

What's more, I couldn't focus further than 1 m, since its rear lens element was so protruding that it hit my speedbooster's glass element.

Fortunately, I could return it.

From what I've read, almost all M42 mount 55/1.4 lenses (Revuenon, Rikenon, Chinon, Cosinon, Sears, Porst, Universar - you name it) are based on the same Tomioka's design, which doesn't really fit my combo.

Minolta 58mm 1.4 can be modified for EF by Leitax. Also don’t forget the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 which can also be modified for EF by EdMika. The cost is a little more for a mod but I actually feel the Canon FD is worth it. If you’re diiligent, you can find one that has been modified to Nikon mount.

The Takumar 50mm 1.4 is a beautiful lens but that may hit your glass as well since there are issues with it hitting the mirror or Canon FF cameras.

The obvious choice would be an ai-s Nikkor. They can be found used for a good price and the same lens, with the same design, can still be bought new today.

But yes, the Contax Zeiss 50mm 1.4 is a nice lens... even though some people prefer the 50mm 1.7. For a cheaper option, Yashica ML lenses are rumored to have the same Zeiss glass and designs as the Contax Zeiss variant.

Another option would be the newer Zeiss Classic ZF or ZF.2 50mm 1.4.

8 hours ago, kye said:

It's like that only you can adjust every hue separately, so you can raise red and green but lower yellow. I had a play with it and it seems like you can't make something B&W and play with that curve before the B&W conversion with only one node, so I think you can't do it with the free version?

Well you can have more than one node with the free version, so it should work?

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Minolta﻿ 58mm 1.4 can be modified for EF by Leitax. Also don’t forget the﻿ Canon FD 50mm 1.4 which can also be modified for EF by EdMika.﻿ The cost is a little more for a mod but I actually feel the Canon FD is worth it﻿. If you’re diiligent, you can find one that has been modified to Nikon ﻿mount﻿﻿﻿.﻿

Didn't know that, big thanks!

13 minutes ago, mercer said:

The﻿ Takumar 50mm 1.4 is a beautiful lens but that may hit your glass as well since there are issues with it hitting the mirror or Canon FF ﻿cameras.﻿

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@heart0less and @Bioskop.Inc that is a great resource. I have a set of Rollei QBM Carl Zeiss lenses and that site informed me that the 50mm 1.8 can hit the mirror... so I am reticent about not having the lens at infinity when I turn on or off the camera and I haven’t had any issues.

Btw, those lenses are incredible for forgotten lenses. I’ve even purchased a Leitax adapter to test out. If it works well, I’ll definitely modify the rest.

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What I'm looking for is a fast (f/1.4) prime with 50-60mm focal length, which after speedboosting (I've got Panasonic G85) will translate to a nice ~85mm eqv.

I had to read your post about three times because I have been having exactly the same thought and my brain was assuming that I'd written the above statement and you were somehow quoting me!

In fact, the whole big lens shootout I just did was to get a 70-80mm equivalent lens on my GH5. I'd mostly gone a different way and was trying 35-40mm lenses without a SB, but one of my goals was low light performance and the 50-60+SB combination gives an extra stop of light without narrowing the DoF which is useful.

In the end I went with the Konica 40mm f1.8 because it was fast, had good contrast and had very little distortion around the edges of the frame when wide open. I prefer it to the Helios+SB combination even though that is one stop brighter because the Helios has such soft/smeared edges wide open, and the SB makes it worse (because the Helios is sharp in the middle but gets worse towards the outer edges). To go brighter again would require the 50/1.4+SB combination you're chasing, and that combo would match the brightness of my 17.5mm f0.95 main lens which would be great.

There are a ton of fast 50mm lenses. I don't know if you saw this link I posted earlier to a big 50mm comparison? http://hispan.hu/50mm-lens-test/ It's in Hungarian, but the pictures pretty much speak for themselves and it's a very comprehensive test.

It's interesting you didn't like the revuenon, as that was one of the better performers in that test, especially at edge sharpness, although I didn't care for the "bubble" bokeh as I think it's too distracting for use except as a kind of special effects lens, or unless you can carefully control the background and eliminate any specular highlights or sharp edges.

Good luck on your quest, your problem is the sheer number of options, which takes work but at least you will end up with something good at the end. There are worse problems to have!

Keep us updated

7 hours ago, mercer said:

Well you can have more than one node with the free version, so it should work?

Interesting. I did wonder about that. IIRC you didn't used to be able to, so maybe they changed it. That's really cool.

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It costs more but the nicest fast lens I have had in the 50-60mm range was the FD 50 1.2 L which is different to almost all those fast lenses in having a hand ground aspheric element (the ultra expensive Noct Nikkor did as well). That could be converted I think.

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It costs more but the nicest fast lens I have had in the 50-60mm range was the FD 50 1.2 L which is different to almost all those fast lenses in having a hand ground aspheric element (the ultra expensive Noct Nikkor did as well). That could be converted I think. ﻿

Wow, I'd love that.

Though, I'm afraid I'll have to stick to ~55 / 58 mm, because most likely a speedboosted 50 mm will vignette when coupled with an anamorphic adapter in front.

8 hours ago, kye said:

I had to read your post about three times because I have been having exactly the same thought and my brain was assuming that I'd written the above statement and you were somehow quoting me!

Great minds think alike. 😂

8 hours ago, kye said:

It's interesting you didn't like the revuenon, as that was one of the better performers in that test, especially at edge sharpness

Who knows, maybe my copy wasn't that good? Not being able to focus it past 1 m was the crucial factor in letting it go.

8 hours ago, kye said:

Good luck on your quest, your problem is the sheer number of options, which takes work but at least you will end up with something good at the end. There are worse problems to have!

Keep us updated

I will!

My best bet right now is getting a Minolta MD 58/1.4 MC II and adapting it to EF, as @mercer suggested.

I have a quite inventive engineer friend with a 3D printer, so it won't prove to be a big problem, I think.

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@heart0less and @Bioskop.Inc that is a great resource. I have a set of Rollei QBM Carl Zeiss lenses and that site informed me that the 50mm 1.8 can hit the mirror... so I am reticent about not having the lens at infinity when I turn on or off the camera and I haven’t had any issues.

Btw, those lenses are incredible for forgotten lenses. I’ve even purchased a Leitax adapter to test out. If it works well, I’ll definitely modify the rest.

Yep, The Rollei QBM Zeiss lenses are top quality & it seems vintage lenses go through phases - people forget or don't know. The good thing is that prices go up & down too!

Here's 2 very good resources for anyone thinking of buying Nikon/Nikkor lenses:

Lens Evaluations - spot on & identify the differences perfectly:

http://www.naturfotograf.com/lens_surv.html#rating

Serial Numbers & dates made (makes identifying what you are buying a lot easier):

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Yep﻿, The Rollei QBM Zeiss lenses are top quality & it seems vint﻿age lenses﻿ go through phases - people forget or don't know﻿. Th﻿e good thing is that prices go up & down too!﻿﻿﻿﻿

Yeah I was really surprised by them. I paid considerably less for a 3 lens set than what I would have paid for The Hollywood. The 25mm 2.8 is proving to be one of my favorite lenses, which is surprising since it’s a slowish wide angle. It seems the real Zeiss gems, from the QBM Mount, are the 35mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4 with their triangular shaped diaphragms. Some people suggest they could be a direct lineage to the 60’s Super Speeds that Scorsese used in Taxi Driver. But they’re a bit out of my price range. Maybe one day.

6 hours ago, heart0less said:

My﻿ best bet right now is getting a Minolta MD 58/1.4﻿ MC II and adapting it to EF, as @mercer suggested.

﻿ I have a qu﻿ite inventive engineer friend with a 3D printer, ﻿s﻿o﻿ it won't prove to be a big problem, I think.﻿﻿

Cool, keep us updated. If it doesn’t pan out with your friend, Leitax sells the mount for that lens for like 57 euros...

When you add 50 USD for a good copy of the lens, I assume you’ll be under 100 euros for a good, fast 58mm. Just make sure you buy the right version of the 58mm 1.4. I believe you want the one that has the all silver mount.

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When you add 50 USD for a good copy of the lens, I assume you’ll be under 100 euros for a good, fast 58mm. Just make sure you buy the right version of the 58mm 1.4. I believe you want the one that has the all silver mount. ﻿

I wish I could find one in that price.
They tend to go for around ~100 $ , if one wants to get a nice copy.

Yup, MC-II is the one I'd be looking for.

1 hour ago, mercer said:

I forget... what camera do you have?

Panasonic G85 / G80

I do know I could mount the Minolta 58/1.4 with just a simple MD→M4/3 adapter, but I do plan to place a Viltrox EF-M2 speed booster between to get that sweet ~85 mm eqv.

My biggest fear is that Rokkor's rear lens element might hit Viltrox's glass element when the lens is focused near infinity.
And, unfortunately, I need to be able to focus near infinity, because otherwise my single focus diopter (required for anamorphic work) won't work.

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I do know I could mount the Minolta 58/1.4 with just a simple MD→M4/3 adapter, but I do plan to place a Viltrox EF-M2 speed booster between to get that sweet ~85 mm eqv.

My biggest fear is that Rokkor's rear lens element might hit Viltrox's glass element when the lens is focused near infinity.
And, unfortunately, I need to be able to focus near infinity, because otherwise my single focus diopter (required for anamorphic work) won't work.

Hmm... that’s a tough one. If you’re going to go with Minolta, it almost makes sense to buy a Lens Turbo II specifically designed for Minolta, then you can have access to the whole Rokkor catalog... speedboosted with IBIS. The 28mm f/2 and 35mm 1.8 are dream lenses.

Anamorphic must be fun with the G85?

Nikon also made an old 58mm 1.4 that you can probably get from Japan for a decent price.

And if you are looking to spend a touch more, the Voigtlander 58mm 1.4 in Nikon mount could work for you... but they’re like $400. But the 20mm and 40mm are supposed to be excellent lenses as well, so you could build a kit.

I'm really considering making a big upgrade to the URSA, but I've already invested in a fleet of Canon FDs. I've been doing some research on FD to PL mounts without a lot of luck. I know ARRI make an FD adapter to the ARRI mount (PL??) but besides that seems there's zilch out there. Some talk about machining the lenses to fit the new flange but I was hoping someone here knows of something...